Recycling a cold bird

I was readmitted to UW hospitals yesterday after an outpatient follow up appointment. The lowest screws on my back are backing out and so it's not stable. The reason for this seems to be an infection that weakened and "annoyed" surrounding tissue. Now the doctors are in the process of figuring out things:

How bad's the infection, is the antibiotic working? (We think so.)

How do you anesthetize someone whose jaw is wired shut? I'm hoping they just take the wires out early, but I don't think they will. This may mean a temporary tracheotomy. I don't want one.

When's the best time to go in and extend the "structure" of rods lower into my back so that it becomes stable and secure. This depends on where the infection is at, both in terms of location and "course" (are you almost done yet, little germs?) Dr. Sillay is willing to hang on to me for a few days to get this right. This is not necessarily the best news but it's probably good practice.

I sat around in despair for a few hours last night, and I can call that up pretty easily right now. It seems like this never ends and something keeps being added. I have been out of work more than a month and there appears to be no end in sight. Or at least it's another month off.

Ended up watching a John Wayne movie. The Duke was wise and strong.

By noon, my understanding is we'll have a much better picture of what the plan is. I suspect I'm coming out of the hospital with a hole in my neck and one of those metal halos on my head. Perhaps we can drape it with prayer flags.

The bird? I only have so many photos on my laptop drive. This month has been a cold bird.